


Foosball

by atkesst



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya gets cared for for once, F/M, Flirty Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Slow Burn, adrien acts like chat noir, adrien has a foosball table but no friends, ladrien friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 11:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30055074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atkesst/pseuds/atkesst
Summary: After running into each other at the park in the middle of a somewhat emotional night, Adrien and Ladybug hang out at his place. Realizing they enjoy each other’s company, Ladybug starts coming over every night to teach him foosball.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Foosball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is sad, Ladybug is sad. Adrien and Ladybug play foosball and are happy

Adrien had never snuck out before. Usually, he just put up with whatever his father did but this time, it was too much. Today, he had been on a video call with Marinette so that she could teach him to sew, something he’d been excited to learn from her for a while. Marinette seemed pretty happy as well. But before they could finish the mittens both of them were making, Adrien’s father came in and yelled at her for being a bad influence. Adrien’s other friends like Nino, Alya, or Wayhem were used to this stuff but Marinette must’ve been caught of guard because she immediately started crying. Adrien couldn’t even apologize because his dad shut off the call and confiscated his phone.

Adrien frowned at the memory. Marinette was one of the sweetest friends he had and the idea of her crying made him really sad. So he was determined to do something about it. “Marinette!” he whispered from outside the bakery, starting to feel a little silly. There was a slight breeze and he hadn’t thought to bring a jacket.

“She’s obviously not going to hear you if you’re that quiet,” Plagg said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m trying to not wake up her parents,” he explained. “Marinette.” he tried again, this time in a normal voice. There was no response.

“Kid, she wouldn’t be able to hear that even if she was awake.”

He took a deep breath. “MARINETTE!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. Plagg’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing??” the kwami demanded. 

“I’m trying to get her attention!”

“Are you trying to wake up all of Paris?”

“No I-“

“Who’s there?” a voice said from above. Plagg hid in Adrien’s shirt.

Adrien looked up to see Marinette’s dad sticking his head out the window of their living room on the second floor. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir!”

He looked down at him. “Adrien!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing out this late? Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

He pulled at the end of his sleeves, feeling a little guilty. “I do. I was just here to apologize to Marinette for what happened earlier.”

The baker’s face softened. “Ah.”

“Is she okay?” Adrien asked, growing more and more concerned.

“She will be. She was pretty upset earlier.” His features became protective. “Did you do something to her?”

“No! I mean, my father sorta did. He yelled at her for talking to me. I came here to apologize.”

Mr. Dupain smiled. “That’s really sweet of you, Adrien. She’s asleep right now but I’ll tell her you came in the morning. But you should really get home. Do you need a lift?”

“No, I think I’ll manage. I don’t live too far. But thank you so much! And sorry for waking you up.” Adrien laughed nervously.

“It’s fine, I’m glad to know my daughter has a friend like you.”

“Thanks! Goodnight!

“Goodnight.”

* * *

Even though Adrien snuck outside with the sole purpose of seeing Marinette, he somehow couldn’t bring himself to go back home. Instead, he found himself pacing around the park by Marinette’s house. It’s not like he even knew how to sneak back inside his room; he had gotten out by jumping out the window into a bush.

Then, he saw a flash of movement from the top of one of the apartments beside the park. “Did you see that, Plagg?” he whispered, scanning the rooftops.

“See what?” Plagg responded lazily.

“Hello?” Adrien said loudly, just enough for someone from far away to hear him but not so loud he was disruptive. He heard Plagg mumble something about how he should’ve used that voice earlier.

The silhouette hesitated. “Hi,” it called back.

A smile broke out on Adrien’s face. He could recognize that voice anywhere. “Hey, Ladybug!”

“Adrien!” she said, surprised. He saw her wobble from her perch on the top of the roof but he wasn’t worried. He trusted her not to hurt herself. “Oh my gosh, hey!”

“Hey, yourself.” He rocked between his feet. This was a strange situation and he didn’t know exactly what to say. Thankfully, she did the work for him.

“I’ll come down there! Hold me! I mean! Hold on!”

He laughed. “Okay.”

Her yo-yo found itself wrapped around a lamppost to Adrien’s left and seconds later, Ladybug landed beside him. “Hi,” she said again, sounding a little nervous.

“Hey,” he responded, still excited to see her. “What are you doing out this late?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. But I was just-“

“Clearing my head,” they said in unison and then smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

They were silent for a bit as they stood there before Ladybug spoke up. “Do you want me to leave? I’m sure you were busy.” She readied her yo-yo to go.

“No!” he almost shouted. He cringed at his volume, that was something he needed to work on. “I would actually rather not be alone right now. If that’s fine with you.”

“Same. I-“ She wiped a tear from her face he hadn’t noticed was even there. “I had a weird evening.”

His heart hurt at the idea that he wasn’t there for her as Chat Noir. He half wished there had been an akuma so he could’ve seen her.

“Then do you wanna hang out for a bit?” he offered. It felt weird asking a superhero to hang out with him but she really did seem to need company as much as he did. Anyways, he  was  her partner, he just didn’t happen to be transformed when he ran into her.

She glanced at the goosebumps forming on his arms. “Sure, but not out here. Aren’t you cold?”

He shrugged. “N-no not really.” His visible shivering betrayed him.

She raised an eyebrow. “Okay, let’s go somewhere. Do you wanna go to your place?It’s late so I won’t stay long I just thought that- I mean, if you don’t want-“

“Let’s do it! It’ll be so fun!” Adrien almost jumped, excited to spend time with her, despite the circumstances that they got to. They had never really gotten to know each other, at least not as Ladybug and Adrien.

“Yeah?” she grinned.

“Yeah!” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held on tight.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked, staring at his face which was now a lot closer to hers than she expected. 

“I- Oh!” He let go of her. “Sorry! I thought you meant we were- I mean, because you usually swing people around. But there’s no akuma. So we can walk. Obviously. Sorry about that!” He was going to keep on rambling before she, fortunately, cut him off. He was starting to sound like Marinette. Not that Marinette’s stammering wasn’t adorable. 

“Oh, of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Sorry,” she apologized back and tentatively took his arm and put it back around her. “Hold me tight. I mean, hold on tight! Well, also hold me tight, so you don’t fall. How did I mess up the same phrase twice,” she mumbled the last part before yo-yoing off with him. 

“You remember where I live,” he remarked as they swung toward his room.  Her eyes widened but she regained composure quickly as they swung through the open window. “Yeah, I’ve been a couple of times. During the akuma attacks, remember?”

“Right. It’s just cool that you still know.” Adrien let go of her, realizing he held on a bit longer than he needed to. “Well, make yourself at home!” he said as he fell back onto his couch. 

She walked around his room, staring at all the things he owned. Her eyes lingered on the mittens on his desk but she didn’t comment on them. “So what do you wanna do?” she asked. 

“Whatever you want. Wanna play a game or something?”

She found her way to the foosball table. “What about this? I’m really good.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I’m not.”

“I’m sure you are.” She took the ball out from the chute and gestured for him to join. He nervously walked over and fiddled with the handles. 

“Ready?” she asked. He gave a quick nod and she put the ball in. After a couple of seconds of Adrien flailing uselessly at the ball, Ladybug easily scored. They smiled awkwardly and tried again. The same thing happened. “Oh,” she said.

He rubbed his neck. “Like I said, I’m not good.”

She laughed. “You’re right! You’re pretty bad at this aren’t you?” Her words would’ve been mean had it not been for her tone. She just sounded amused.

He laughed back. “Yeah, I’ve never really gotten a whole lot of practice. My dad doesn’t play with me ever and I never have friends over so...” He trailed off, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Well I’m a friend! And I’m over!” she shouted, a little too loud because of how excited she was. “Adrien, by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be the best foosball player on the planet.”

“I didn’t expect the one and only miraculous Ladybug to self-appoint herself as my coach this morning.”

“Well, I didn’t expect the one and only Adrien Agreste to suck so much at foosball!”

His mouth fell open. “I’m hurt!”

“You will be.” She bounced up and down, unable to contain herself.

“You’re on, m’- uh, Lady. Bug.” He cringed at his lack of word. Lack of word. Speaking. Speaking well. She didn’t seem to mind.

He inserted the ball clumsily through the side. As soon as it hit the table, Ladybug smacked it directly into his goal. “You know, I think I should probably teach a bit before we just practice.”

“Good idea.”

She found her way around to his side and brought the ball with her. “Here. Hold this,” she said, handing the ball to him. “First of all, you need to use both sets of sticks, not just the ones in front of you.” She showed him the goalies.

“So I just-“ He moved one hand away from the offensive ones and placed it on the one furthest away. “Do both?”

She shook her head. “No, you’ll have no control if you’re trying to operate both at the same time. You have to switch between sets. Move your feet.” Hopping back and forth to demonstrate, she illicit a chuckle from him.

“Okay,” he said, almost mocking her as he moved between them as she had.

“Take this seriously.”

He smiled. “I am, teacher.”

She gave him a weird look before taking the ball back from him and inserting it. “Show me your best power shot.”

He held the stick firmly and turned it as fast as he could. He missed the ball completely.

With a roll of her eyes, Ladybug put her hand over his. “You have to line it up first.”

“Forgot about that,” he mumbled, slightly distracted by her hand. She pulled his arm back until the striker was in front of the ball. He tried again and the ball sped into the goal.

“That was good!”

“Thanks!” he exclaimed proudly.

She went around back to her side. “Okay, let’s try again. I’ll go easy on you.”

“Okay.” He watched as she inserted the ball, ready to strike. He hit it as hard as he had the first time but she was quick; she moved the goalie in front of it. 

As they started to have a good back and forth with the ball, the conversation started as well. “So what happened that made you need to clear your head?” Ladybug asked, waiting for him to answer before hitting the ball again so that could get a chance to think.

“Well, have you heard of a girl named Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Her parents run a bakery.”

He saw her flinch slightly. “Um, yeah. I’ve met her. Did she do something wrong?” she asked, seeming to almost fear his answer. 

“No, she was great as always.” A slight blush formed on her cheeks. “It’s just, my father said some stuff to her and it made her cry. I  hate seeing her cry.”

She looked embarrassed. “Is it irritating or something?”

“No! I hate seeing it because I hate to see her sad.” His eyes fell. “I think I make her sad sometimes.”

The game slowed down a bit. “Why is that?”

“Because, well, I’m not great with people. Whatever I say to her, she always gets freaked out, like she doesn’t want to talk to me. And seeing her cry tonight...” he gazed at the unfinished mittens on his desk. “I don’t know. I wish I could make it up to her.”

“You don’t have to- I mean, you don’t have to beat yourself up about it. I know your father took your phone, but you should talk to her tomorrow.” She gave him a weak smile before smacking the ball into his goal. 

He took the ball out and mindlessly put it back in. “I will.” He paused. “How did you know my father took my phone?”

“I didn’t see it in your pocket,” she said smoothly, very focused on the game all of a sudden. 

“Someone’s observant,” he teased, easily scoring when she opened her mouth to argue. 

He expected her to get angry for distracting her but instead her eyes just lit up. “Woo! That was great, Adrien!”

It was a little embarrassing that his heart sped up from just that but he tried to ignore it. “Thanks, Ladybug.” Despite how much fun he was having, he couldn’t help but yawn. It was getting late.

“Oh, are you tired?” she asked, opening her bug phone. “It’s three am!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t even realize. Sorry, I’m sure you have school tomorrow and modeling and uh, fencing, piano-“

“Don’t apologize,” he said, interrupting her. “This was more fun than I’ve had in a while. I had a really bad day and I... I needed this.”

“I’m glad. I had a great time too. Tell me how it goes with Marinette,” she said as she headed for the window.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing her arm. “Tell you?”

It took her a second to process what she had said before that. “I just invited myself again didn’t I?” she asked, laughing at herself.

“You did, and I welcome it. How’s tomorrow at ten sound?” He let go of her arm.

“It’s a date.” She waved goodbye at him as she jumped out the window and swung off.

He sighed in content and stared out the window until she was out of sight.

**Author's Note:**

> My ship tier list is Marichat, LadyNoir, Adrienette, and then Ladrien so this fic is an attempt to move the last two up. I’ll be updating this soon and comments are appreciated! :D


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